Crusaders
The Crusaders are the premier superheroes of Earth (in the Universe of Neon), boasting a roster of powerful members dedicated to high ideals. Brought together during the invasion of Earth by an advanced race known as the Greens, the Crusaders were initially the 7 most powerful heroes that could be found by Dr. Never in order to combat the threat. However, after their defeat at the hands of Crash, the Crusaders expanded to dozens. However, the most important members would be the 7 founders: 'Founding Members' 'Sovereign' Real Name:'Jak-As, Jack Snyder The greatest hero on the planet Earth, Sovereign is based out of Mega City. Sovereign’s true name is Jak-As, and he is a survivor of the Omnian race from the planet Omnius. As such, he possesses an incredibly evolved body and is regarded by many as the most powerful being in the Galaxy (this is for the most part true, as barring Crash himself or the Oversarans no one possessed strength comparable to the raw power of Sovereign). 50 years before the main story, he participated in the Great War, a planet spanning conflict that engulfed all of Earth. He, along with Siren and Phantom, helped to secure victory for the Republican Alliance. However, after the war Sovereign was appalled at the level of destruction and he left Earth and journeyed throughout the galaxy. When he returned he found that life had moved on without him and struggled to find a place in the new Earth. Because of the great legend surrounding his exploits during the Great War, he still had many admirers though, and was still handily the most powerful being on Earth. He returned in time to stop a massive invasion by an alien race known as the Greens and was once again hailed as the premier hero of Earth. Hailing from a bygone era, Sovereign is more politically and morally conservative than his Crusader teammates and is more prone to violent solutions. In many ways, he is the broadsword to Phantom’s scalpel. Sovereign's personality is rough and aggressive. He often seems unconcerned about the harm his strength may cause, tossing villains in such a manner that fatalities would presumably occur. Sovereign is also capable of entering into a berserker rage which temporarily boosts his power. 'Phantom Real Name: 'Jason Geist / John Spartan / Kurt Webb / David King / "Spooky Joe" A soldier during the Great War, Phantom was the only survivor of the Perfect Soldier program, which was designed to create super soldiers for the Hyperian Army. The serum he was given turned him into the “perfect” human specimen, effectively granting him the peak in physical and mental capacities without being called a superhuman. Given the codename Phantom, he was trained by the very best in combat and special operations. He fought as a secret agent for Hyperia and its allies and worked alongside Sovereign and Siren. His identity beneath the mask was classified to the highest levels to the point where even in the modern day almost no one knows who Phantom actually was. Even his brother in the Perfect Soldier program, Simon Phoenix (better known by his codename Laughing Man) never knew his true identity. Unfortunately, a botched mission resulted in him becoming frozen. He was listed as Missing In Action and presumed killed. It would not be till 40 years later when his body would be recovered in an attempt to harvest the Perfect Soldier serum from him that it would be discovered he was still alive and had only been in suspended animation. He escaped from the government and succeeded in using his vast knowledge and genius intellect to create a wide variety of aliases and build a personal fortune. He spent the next 10 years creating a powerful corporate empire, carefully collecting or destroying files on himself from the Great War while clandestinely fighting crime in his persona as Phantom. When Earth came under attack by the Greens, he answered Sovereign’s call to help. Afterwards he reconnected with his old partners, Sovereign and Siren, and even assisted the newly gathered Crusaders by bankrolling their operations with his massive fortune. However, he barely views himself as a member of the Crusaders, and is often standoff-ish and is rarely with them on missions, preferring instead to focus on his own war running operations throughout the world. While he is close friends with Sovereign, the two have completely differing viewpoints. Where Sovereign is extremely jingoistic, Phantom is staunchly anti-authoritarian and regularly bucks the system. Sovereign on the other hand, in many ways IS the system. Phantom originally wore his uniform from the war, a costume similar to Sovereigns only blue and gray with a black ghost symbol on the chest, but in the modern age took to wear an all gray costume. On his face he wears a black mask which has obscured his identity since his time as a soldier, over which he has taken to wearing a tattered blue cloak. All this makes for a terrifying demeanor for which Phantom was given the nickname the Dark Specter and the Gray Ghost. Phantom’s methods are admittedly brutal. Having been tempered by his training as an elite soldier and experiences during the War, Phantom is well versed in methods of torture and assassination. While Laughing Man was superior to him in fighting during the War, the decades since then have seen Phantom become one of the most highly trained and dangerous martial artists in the world. He is trained in the use of almost every weapon, but prefers to use his fists and feet, though he does carry a number of blades about his person. 'Siren Real Name: 'Aria Aria is the half breed Princess of a matriarchy of powerful Marian Amazons. Her mother was the queen of these people who had engaged in a tryst with a human sailor who appears to have been an unrealized superhuman. This resulted in Aria possessing significantly boosted powers compared to normal Marians, as well as possessing the unusual ability of unassisted flight. Also owing to her mixed parentage, while other Marians are blue skinned, she is Caucasian. Aria was attracted out of the seas by the chaos of the Great War, and she leaves her people to participate in it. As she appeared on the side of Hyperia and its allies, grateful soldiers gave her the name Siren, after the legendary sea creatures of alluring but dangerous beauty. She was honored by the nickname and readily accepted it. During the course of the war she became close with Sovereign. When he left Earth at the war’s conclusion she helped the governments of the day clean up in the wake of the conflict. However, she became offended by the growing graft and corruption of the governments of the day and she returned to the sea. When Earth was faced with the Greens’ invasion she returned to protect the world, and was reunited with Sovereign. Her greatest power is her Siren Call, a powerful sonic scream which can level a city. In addition, she possesses superhuman strength, is able to fly and is nearly invulnerable. Bullets and other missiles cannot penetrate her extremely tough skin. She is able to swim at superhuman speeds, to breathe underwater, and is immune to the cold and pressures of the depths. She’s able to see better underwater than a normal human. Aria must periodically immerse herself in water to retain her powers and her health. Coming from an aggressive warrior culture, Aria also has a habit of being rather rash. 'Dr. Never Real Name: 'Don Never The product of a botched experiment in phase shift science, Dr. Never was once a noted and brilliant physicist. However, when his experiment risked having its funding cut, he used himself as a guinea pig and ended up knocking himself out of shift. While he is extremely powerful and able to control his energy structure, he has also become increasingly dispassionate as to the rest of the world. In reality this was mainly a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that he could now read the minds of all the humans on Earth at once. Dr. Never possesses super strength, super speed, invisibility, telepathy, shapeshifting and density alteration, with the ability to become intangible. 'Fireball Real Name: 'Tom Quick A former thief who gained the power of Super Speed from an experiment in a lab he was robbing, he initially used his powers to aid in the committing of other crimes. During one job though, he saved a woman from falling to her death off a building. The incident inspired the thief to turn his life around and emulate the heroes he admired as a youth, and he made a costume and became a hero. Easily the youngest among the founding Crusaders, Fireball is known for his jovial personality which occasionally gets on the nerves of his more conservative teammates. Fireball is the fastest being on the planet Earth. He is able to manifest a "Blast Field" which gives him the appearance of a man on fire. This blast field protects Quick from the effects of air friction and enable him to run and move at speeds many many times the speed of sound. When it was debated whether he or Sovereign were faster, he put any questions to rest when he was shown to be faster than Sovereign running backwards during their race. 'SENTINEL Real Name: '''Walter Luger Walter Luger was a SENTINEL Sergeant of the 14th Legion, in charge of Sector 2162 A. As such, he had been infused with Shine Energy which granted him a powerful Aura which he could manipulate to a wide variety of effects. He joined the Crusaders to help keep Earth safe, since Earth tended to be the focal point for a lot of trouble in that Sector. He was commissioned by SENTINEL following Earth’s Great War. In Sovereign’s absence and Aria’s retreat below the waves, he had taken over as protector of the planet. He was the one who knew about what happened in the rest of the Galaxy beyond the North Galaxy, and was the one who informed the rest of the Crusaders about the saran Holy Order and the Deathwalks. When John stated that King Crash had returned, Luger was amazed as he’d always thought Crash and the Dragon Gods were myths. Luger was killed by Crash when the God King passed by Earth after recovering the Bloodstone. Luger was known for his no-nonsense professionalism and gruff military manner. He was very much an “old war horse” who was nonetheless admired by all who knew him. Battle '''Angel Real Name: Sera While she is the oldest by centuries of the Crusaders, Sera is considered a young woman by the standards of her people, the Avians. The Avian are a closed society of winged humans who seem impervious to aging. Sera and her people are one of the oldest groups on Earth, being old enough to remember their creation by the Gods when they brought the human population to the planet and began experimenting on them. Sera is over 200 years old, and observed the Great War from the Avian’s hidden city in the mountains. It isn’t until Earth faced invasion by the Greens that Sera finally managed to defy her people and join in the battle. Being a Avian, she is stronger than normal humans, but most of her power seems to come from the magic sword she carries. As her people still devoutly believe in the Gods, Sera is shocked to discover that King Crash still lives and that the sarans want to stop him. 'Later Members' 'SENTINEL II' Real Name: Ira Dread Like Luger, Dread was also a native of Earth, but after completing the Academy and doing a stint in one of the Patrol Legions, he was assigned to the 00 Legion becoming one of the Order’s finest special agents. He had the best record of any operative and was one of the most respected agents in the Black Legion. When Luger was killed fighting Crash, the Watchers decided to have a permanent SENTINEL presence on Earth to monitor the superhumans evolving on that planet. Since Dread was a native of the planet and a Special Agent with such a distinguished record, they offered him the job and he accepted. He was transferred to the 14th Legion where his stiff attitude was hard met by his new comrades, both in the Legion and in the Crusaders. His methods and demeanor were very different from Luger’s. Where Luger was hyper disciplined and on top of everything, Dread seemed aloof and distant, barely interested in anything happening around him. However, despite this demeanor, Dread proved himself infinitely more skilled than his predecessor, matching wits with the Phantom and even managing to frustrate Sovereign during a test of his strength. He would regularly say that he was from the Black Legion, and that in order to survive in that Legion you had to be used to fighting people many times smarter or more powerful than you. Dread was from one of the savage tribes on Earth, and wears his hair long and shaggy. Much to the annoyance of the other Crusaders, Dread generally refuses to talk about his previous posting, saying anything relating to the Black Legion is “classified.” However, he will often answer the question he was asked much later in the form of an anecdote. While Dread has the rank of Sergeant, he actually is as powerful as a SENTINEL Captain. He had been hiding his true power to avoid being promoted since he saw a Captain's seat as a major hassle. The Watchers caught on and offered him either the job of watching over the superhuman activity on Earth, or the rank of Captain. He took the Earth job, and because of his rank is commonly underestimated. A close kept secret of Dread's is he is the bastard son of the 33rd Legion's Captain, Gaheris Wrath. 'Sovereign Girl' Real Name: Briana Dat-As, Brie Snyder Briana Dat-As was born on Omnius in the Noble House of As, the daughter of a lesser son of the House. She was one of the Young of Omnius who rejected Omnian Society and indulged in a hedonistic underworld. When it became evident that Omnius was about to explode, she was among the rebels who tried to leave the planet. After the government thwarted that effort, Lord As used his status to protect her from prosecution. He confronted his niece and revealed to her that he intended to use one of their ships in order to save his own son, Jak-As and offered her one of the other escape pods if she would promise to watch over him and keep him safe. She accepted and was the only other Omnian to escape the planet’s destruction. Unfortunately, her pod was shot off course and while she did arrive on Earth, she did so 80 years after her infant cousin had landed. By then, Jak-As had grown into Sovereign and was a famous hero not just on Earth, but the entire galaxy. After overcoming her initial shock, she bonded with her cousin who was happy to finally have one of his own kind around. This shared grief over the fate of their people brought the two of them close together, eventually blossoming into a secret and incestuous affair. Briana adopted the identity of Brie Snyder, cousin of Jack Snyder (Sovereign’s alter-ego) and became the heroine Sovereign Girl. Major Power Real Name: Rod Majors Rod Majors was a major in the Hyperian Air Force who worked as a test pilot. Heavily involved in Hyperia's nascent space program, he was testing a space ship with an experimental power source. The test was going well until the power source became unstable. Hoping to save the rest of the crew, Majors attempted to repair the power source. Whatever he did allowed his co-pilot to land the craft safely, but the power source was seemingly gone and Majors was in a coma. A short while later he awoke and discovered he had strange new abilities. It turned out that Majors had ended up fusing with the power source which became a "Quantum Shell" which granted him the ability to manipulate energies as well as super human strength, speed and durability. Dubbed "Major Power", he became Hyperia's super powered agent for a number of years. He was later invited to join the Crusaders as a sign of good faith with the Hyperian government. Major Power is among the most powerful Crusaders, being one of the few who can actually challenge Sovereign. Summer & Winter Real Names: Anita Blond & Anita Dark A superhero duo consisting of a pair of childhood best friends who developed pyrokinetic and cryokinetic powers respectively. Called "the two Anitas" growing up, they were closer than sisters and always together. The two were celebrating their high school graduation when a nearby accident caused their Ultrahuman genes to activate. Blond discovered she had become a human torch, able to ignite herself, throw bolts of fire and fly. Dark likewise discovered she could control cold and generate ice, able to cover herself in ice armor and quickly move about on ice slides. While going to college, the two would operate as superheroes, helping people and defeating villains. After graduating from college, they joined the Crusaders. Archer Real Names: Buck Adams An altruist and anti-establishment superhero who works to protect the poor. An angry and uneasy youth, he joined the Hyperian Army and was eventually loaned out to the Hyperian Intelligence Agency. While there he participated in many missions and gained a wide variety of skills. However, his missions eventually soured his opinion of authority in general and the Hyperian Government in particular and he retired. He returned to his home town of Stella City where he hoped to have a quiet life. However, at this point his neighborhood was terrorized by gangs of crooks and drug dealers. After a childhood friend was gunned down in a driveby shooting, he put on a costume and used the skills he learned in the wilderness to hunt down and take out criminals. His missions occasionally brought him alongside Phantom, who respected Archer's due to their similar pasts as secret agents. Phantom invited Archer to join the Crusaders to give them a more human perspective. Sword & Shield Real Names: Rick & Randy Spears A pair of twin brothers who were experimented on as children by their mad scientist father. Sword has the power to project powerful bolts of concussive energy. Shield conversely has the power to erect impervious force fields. The two were among the first recruits when the Crusaders expanded their ranks in the wake of Crash's assault. Iron Knight Real Name: Tom Byron Byron was a boy genius with unparalleled mechanical skill. Unbeknownst to nearly everyone, Iron Knight is an ultrahuman technopath with the ability to control technology with his mind. Able to construct nearly any device he could think of, he founded a company based around his inventions which made him rich. Bored being at the helm of a major company, he used his skills to construct a suit of powered armor. While the purpose behind the suit's construction was initially for Byron to show off and field test new inventions, he eventually began using it to perform heroics. While he occasionally will wear the armored suits he creates, more often than not he controls them remotely with his powers. He is able to control dozens of Iron Knight suits at once, but the strain of doing so drains him and could potentially kill him if he overexerts himself. Walking Dead Real Name: Peter North North was a celebrated police detective who investigated Ultracrime. He was considered one of the brightest minds on the force, and was regarded as a miracle worker who could solve any case. On one of his assignments he was chasing a suspect through a mysterious laboratory when he was exposed to deadly chemicals which seemingly killed him. However, he survived, discovering that while his body no longer exhibited signs of life, he was also completely indestructible. He is able to completely regenerate from any wound and re-attach severed limbs and such. His dead state has effectively removed his bodies natural limiters so he is stronger and faster than a normal human, but still not on the level of Phantom and far below the likes of Sovereign and Siren. For this reason, he tends to fight with guns, knives and axes and will rely on his indestructible body and limitless stamina to wear down stronger foes and better fighters. Zoo Girl Real Name: Desiree West Zoo Girl is an Ultra with the power to shape shift into any animal. She was originally a member of a group of teen heroes, but after Crash's invasion she graduated to the Crusaders. She has a tendency to fangirl out around the older, more established heroes and annoy them with her exuberance.